Mountain View Tire

You may already know about the basics of tire care, but there may be a few items on this list that you haven't thought about. Follow these suggestions and you'll increase your chances of getting the most value frorm your tires.

Shopping for replacement tires? If so, keep in mind that, typically, you and your car will be best served when you buy the same type of tires that came with your vehicle as original equipment.

(The original version of this article appears on the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence website.)

Summer vacations are over, the kids are back in school, and cooler evenings have begun. While the fall and winter temperatures in southern California don’t drop too far from our summertime highs, many of the tips below will come in handy if you’ll be driving up north this fall or winter.

None of us wants to hear strange noises coming from inside, underneath or the back end of our car, but those noises can be very helpful, serving as warnings of potentially serious problems. For its March 2010 issue, Consumer Reports put together this list of common vehicle noises and what they typically mean. Recognize any of them? If so, pull into any Mountain View Tire store and our ASE-certified technicians will diagnose the problem.

It pays to be aware of the top 10 car killers, the corrosive agents that can destroy your vehicle from within. They tend to be stealthy, often escaping the notice of even the most careful car owners, but the experts at Mountain View Tire can help you defend your vehicle from all of them.

According to Bridgestone's TireSafety.com website three out of every four drivers wash their vehicles once a month, but only one in every seven checks his tire pressure that often. That's fewer than 15% of all drivers. And that's a scary number when you consider that tires are the only things between our vehicles and the road.

Any puncture or injury to a tire affects performance and safety, so a proper repair is critical. However, only punctures in the tread area that are straight-through and 1/4" diameter or smaller may be repaired, if no secondary damage has occurred. Because all parts of a tire are engineered to function as a single unit, a puncture must be repaired on both the inside and the outside of the tire.

Rotating your vehicle's tires – periodically changing their position on the vehicle from front to back and/or side to side – delivers three main benefits.

For years, drivers were advised to “change your oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles – whichever comes first.” But is that still a good rule to follow? The answer depends on your vehicle manufacturer's recommendation.

Full synthetic motor oil outperforms conventional and synthetic blend motor oils in nearly all aspects of engine protection. A full synthetic starts with a quality base oil. It’s combined with an additive formula that enables it to provide superior protection against friction, and resist burn-off, oxidation, shear, and sludge. This additive formula includes detergents, anti-wear agents, friction modifiers, dispersants, viscosity index improvers, and antioxidants to help the engine run better.

(This article was published by MotorTrend.)

In a 2008 Wall Street Journal / NBC News poll, Americans cited gasoline prices as the economic woe that most affected them. The Car Care Council warns that putting off vehicle care and maintenance can make matters worse. Proper vehicle maintenance will increase miles per gallon.

If you hear a deep growling sound when making extreme turns, your vehicle may be low on power steering fluid. Pop the hood and check the power steering dipstick. It should be clearly marked. Refer to your owner's manual for details on how to properly read the stick, and which type of fluid is recommended.

The following is based on information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

If your vehicle's “Check Engine” light comes on and stays on while you're driving, that means the On-Board Diagnostics system has detected a problem. It might be a condition that wastes fuel, shortens engine life, or causes excessive air pollution. The source of the problem may be as simple as a missing or broken gas cap or an engine misfire, but if the issue is not addressed, it may lead to more extensive vehicle damage and increasingly expensive repairs.

One of the most common causes of vehicle breakdowns is overheating. There are many reasons your engine might run hot, including a faulty radiator cap and a low coolant level. Those problems are easy enough to fix yourself, but if the cause of your vehicle's trouble is a little more complicated, you can trust the ASE-certified technicians at Mountain View Tire to provide a quick solution.

Here's a good example of how the “little things” can really add up. About one in six vehicles on the road has a loose, damaged, or missing gas cap. All those “minor problems” add up to a huge waste of energy each year: the loss of 147 million gallons of gas through evaporation.